• Australia has inked a new security pact with ASEAN – the Association of South-East Asian Nations. It’s the first ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’ the block of countries in our region has made, and it’s seen as another step for Oz to strengthen diplomatic ties as China muscles up.

• The G20 summit kicks off in Rome tomorrow, and top of the agenda is climate change, recovering from the pandemic, and curbing misinformation on social media. PM Scott Morrison may get the chance to speak in person with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron after a thawing phone call yesterday.

• And US President Joe Biden hasn’t got a formal climate policy to take to next week’s COP26 summit. A whopping big spending package including $555 billion for climate measures has divided his Democratic party. Biden is in the process of reformulating it, but not in time for next week’s climate get together.

ASEAN, G20 – what does it all mean? We have a Squiz Shortcut for that.